As the two Sailor Guardians fought the Cybermen, the Doctor and Rassilon assembled their segments of the Key to Time. “The Cybermen must be really confident in their victory,” muttered Rassilon.
“If they really ARE as emotionless as they say,” replied the Doctor, “they can’t feel it.”
“So, what now?” asked William.
“Now? Now we stop them,” replied the Doctor.
The Cybermen guarding the room the Doctor and her team escorted the prisoners to the landing site after a few hours. The CyberMaster and Cyber-Controller were still arguing. “CyberMaster, I must repeat my objection to using only five of the six segments! The time alteration will degrade as our replica segment decays!”
“You are outside your function,” replied the CyberMaster. He turned to the group. “Doctor.”
“One partially assembled Key to Time, as requested,” she sighed as she pulled out the Key. Only one corner was missing.
“Dimensions established for substitute segment,” reported a Cyberman.
“Inform the fleet,” ordered the CyberMaster. “Final phase will begin.”
“With only five segments?” asked the Doctor. “Surely it’s more logical to use a completed Key.”
“The Doctor speaks the truth,” said the Cyber-Controller. “The Cyber-Planner has predicted a seventy percent chance of failure if the full Key to Time is not utilized.”
“Our ascension cannot be delayed,” replied the CyberMaster. “We shall proceed with all speed.” That was when the instrument panels of the communications console blared.
“Interference with communications, CyberMaster,” reported a Cyberman. “Transmission and reception affected.”
“Doctor!” said the CyberMaster.
“Don’t look at me!” lied the Doctor. “I was locked in the room with everyone here!”
“Yes, yes!” said William.
“False,” replied the CyberMaster. “I have examined your time stream from the moment of your arrival. You have affected communications with the fleet by using sonic waves devised to be…pleasing to certain human ears.” He turned to the Cyberman running the communications console. “Engage monitoring equipment.” The Cyberman obeyed and a song played.
“Lovers of the dark, step into the light!
We know you’re brave, you’ve come to see us dream,
Many times before, now we open up a door,
To a world so flaming bright, a world you’ve never seen!
Can you hear the Banshee scream?
Can you hear the Banshee scream?
Can you hear the Banshee scream?”
“Brocas Helm, Doctor?!” asked William.
“Classic heavy metal!” replied the Doctor.
“Doctor, you will terminate your jamming frequency,” ordered the CyberMaster.
“Most certainly not!” scoffed the Doctor.
“…Then we shall have to risk creating a temporal paradox. Delete them. Rassilon must be shot again during regeneration.”
“NO!” called a voice. “MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” A shockwave of energy then tore through the Cybermen, causing the armor of a few to fall apart, including the Cyber-Controller, and revealing the people they used to be! Neo Queen Serenity goggled in surprise at who the Cyber-Controller was!
“BERYL?!” she yelped. It was, indeed, Usagi I’s first nemesis, Queen Beryl, complete with blood-red hair and red eyes with yellow sclera!
“You…backstabbing…piece of scrap!” snarled Beryl as she summoned a purple maxi-dress and black crown on her body. The CyberMaster and the remaining Cybermen then regained their footing.
“Upgrade complete,” droned the CyberMaster. “You requested power. I granted you that power.”
“You enslaved me! I’ll have you destroyed for this!” Beryl raised her staff and unleashed an energy attack. A few Cybermen intercepted and were vaporized.
“Upgrade complete,” said another Cyberman.
“Everyone, no!” called the Doctor. “The Cybermen can adapt around attacks!”
“What are they, Borg?!” asked William.
“I have to do this!” said Sailor Saturn as she summoned a glaive! “SILENCE GLAIVE-!”
“NO!” shouted Neo Queen Serenity! “Please, just wait! Wait a minute! Hotaru, put that down! It’s all coming together!”
“Your Majesty?” asked Sailor Saturn.
“Mama, what are you saying?!” asked Neo Sailor Moon. …That was when the communications console stopped with the heavy metal and blasted a high-pitched noise that affected all the Cybermen!
“What have you done?!” demanded the CyberMaster.
“That jamming signal,” explained the Doctor, “carried the codes needed to switch off the emotional inhibitors! And not just for your forces here, but for the fleet on the other end of your time corridor!”
“No! This was not foreseen!” argued the CyberMaster. Unforeseen, yes, but still very possible. The Cyber-Leader collapsed, then saw his reflection in the floor.
“…I’m so sorry,” said the Doctor. The Cyber-leader screamed before his chest exploded. And it wasn’t just the Cyber-leader that self-destructed! All the Cybermen were collapsing and exploding after their emotions were restored to them. The CyberMaster then collapsed. “Right! Now, time corridor!”
“Machine’s over there!” called William. The Doctor looked at where William was pointing, then got to work.
“Can’t we just smash it?!” asked Neo Sailor Moon.
“Too risky!” replied the Doctor. “It could cause another temporal disaster greater than what you lot were investigating!” She checked over the machine, then made several calculations, then enacted her planned shut-down sequence on the machine. The time corridor then closed and the Doctor stepped back. “Now it can be smashed.”
“Allow me,” said Amy as she summoned her hammer.
“…A new kind of magical girl?” asked Sailor Saturn.
“…I dunno,” mused Amy. “Maybe. We’ll see.” She then brought the hammer down on the time corridor generator.
“And that, as they say, is that,” sighed the Doctor. By then, Setsuna arrived.
“Doctor, it worked!” she said. “The solar system knows about the origins of the Deimos Temporal Disaster and are preparing accordingly for any Cyberman incursions!”
“So all that’s left is an official renewal of our oath of friendship,” sighed Neo Queen Serenity happily.
“And I say we’re more than ready!” said Taxona.
“Y…You fools…” came a voice. The Doctor turned to the prone CyberMaster.
“Still functional, I see,” remarked the Doctor.
“You…you gave…these apes…the means of…time travel!” gasped the CyberMaster. “Secrets…that were…meant…for us…alone! …SHE…made it…so!” He pointed at Rassilon.
“…Do we know you?” asked Rassilon.
“You…promised me…immortality!”
“Oddly enough, that doesn’t narrow it down. All I could get from that was that you played my game in the Death Zone and made it to the Dark Tower, my tomb.”
“…Is speaking telepathically still available to you?” the Doctor asked the CyberMaster.
“…C…Contact…” strained the CyberMaster.
“Contact,” replied the Doctor. She then got flashes of memories from the CyberMaster. Memories of an old man telling off a young boy on Gallifrey to respect tradition, of a middle-aged man carefully constructing events so a Time Lord’s name was protected, of an old man giving a strange man with a scarf his first nine out of ten, the highest grade the strange man ever received, and of an old man putting on a ring despite a hologram of a trickster giving him opportunities to back away, of turning into stone, of being freed only to become a weapon, then…the Doctor gasped as she backed away and ended the telepathic conference. “Borusa!” she whispered.
“Borusa? You mean that imprisoned Time Lord I made into a possibility engine during the Time War?” asked Rassilon. “That’s who this CyberMaster is?”
“My teacher during the days of the Academy!” confirmed the Doctor. “But…how?!”
“The…Master…gave me…a new chance…” replied Borusa weakly through his Cyber-helmet. “This…was only…a temporary measure. …I would…restore…our world!”
“The Cybermen don’t care for that!” protested the Doctor. “There were ways for you to-!”
“I…needed…the Cybermen’s…technology,” argued Borusa. “I…had to…restore…our time travel…capabilities. …But…I only…got…the standard…set of…regenerations. …That was…my last…incarnation…Doctor. …I needed…continual…regenerations…until…Gallifrey…came back!”
“…You still sought a form of immortality?!” asked the Doctor. “That’s why you’re going after the Key to Time?! After what you went through, you STILL seek immortality?! You’re mad! Magnificent, Sir, but mad!” Borusa didn’t have the strength to reply. The light in his chest unit went dark and he went silent.
“…I once called immortality a curse,” mumbled Rassilon. “…I lost sight of my end goals.”
With now five segments of the Key in their possession, the Doctor and her friends returned to the TARDIS. “Doctor!” called Setsuna. “You’re not leaving yet, surely! There’s still so much to do!”
“And I’m sure you and your fellow Queens will perform splendidly,” assured the Doctor. “But we have a quest of our own to complete.” Setsuna then looked at the Doctor’s friends.
“She STILL tries to slip away quickly and quietly without a goodbye?” she asked.
“Yep,” replied William.
“Uh huh,” agreed Amy.
“A real bad habit of hers,” remarked Rassilon.
“OI!” protested the Doctor.
“Still, the Key to Time IS important right now,” said Setsuna. “I expect my Garnet Orb will be returned?”
“When we’re through,” promised the Doctor.
“Before you go,” said Setsuna, “I need to speak to William.”
“Me?” asked William.
“For a moment only.”
“…Please make it quick,” said the Doctor. At that, William joined with Setsuna somewhere private.
“I’ve peeked into your timeline,” said Setsuna. “Do you really intend to go back home after all this?”
“…Setsuna, I heard we go to war with the Daleks nine times already,” replied William. “We win, but I need to make some contributions in my native time to make sure we’re somewhat ready for the future. I know I can’t tell everyone the future, but if I can guide them-!”
“That’s all I ask,” assured Setsuna. “Just…make sure you tell Winston, at least. Okay?”
“Oh, absolutely,” agreed William.
“Then good luck, Dr. William Davies,” wished Setsuna. William rejoined his friends and entered the TARDIS with them. The TARDIS then dematerialized with the familiar Vworp Vworp! “Goodbye, Doctor,” said Setsuna. “Until our next meeting.”